Since 2000, Brasserie Bread has been baking and supplying its organic artisan sourdough to restaurants and cafes in Sydney, and more recently also Melbourne and the ACT.
Its products may be artisan, but it’s not a small scale operation. In fact Brasserie Bread bakes 10,000 loaves a day – 30,000 units if you count the non-sourdough rolls and croissants – and it also distributes these to 1000 customers.
Brasserie Bread bakes and delivers every day to a large and diverse customer base, which includes cafes, restaurants, caterers, airlines and gourmet retailers.
“We started in 2000 and then saw very strong organic growth mainly through restaurants and cafes wanting to sell beautiful bread,” founder and chief operating officer Michael Klausen says. “This has been a big change in the market and it’s been really good for us.”
Klausen says the trend for artisan bread was formerly driven by consumers in the northern suburbs of Sydney but the company has since moved into distributing to Canberra, the NSW south coast, and Sydney’s north-west.
“We get phone calls from people asking if its possible to get our products delivered,” he says. “Having to organise and structure things so as to deliver daily fresh bread means distribution has become a big growth area in our business as well.”
Production takes place at its bakery in Botany in Sydney, a large, 3000 square metre facility. Two years ago the company opened another bakery in South Melbourne, a market that is growing fast. Brasserie Bread also has licensed agreements with a retail group at the Virgin terminal at Sydney airport.
Time-honoured tradition
According to Klausen, production may be large-scale, but Brasserie Bread continues to honour the traditions of artisan baking, and in particular, authentic sourdough bread.
Most of its products are hand-made by skilled staff and the majority of its products are traditional sourdough-based, which involves natural fermentation and the use of simple ingredients.
The process starts with the preparation of its wild yeast, also called the starter culture. Brasserie Bread’s starter is now 19 years old and gives the sourdough its complex flavour and crumb structure, Klausen says.
Klausen, who grew up in Denmark, took up cooking at the age of 12 and set up a busy catering business as soon as he left school. He then trained with some of the best chefs in Copenhagen, ran an acclaimed restaurant and hosted a TV cooking program.
When he arrived in Australia in the 1980s, he began working with Tony Papas at the Bayswater Brasserie, where he became head chef. He and Papas established The Boathouse at Blackwattle Bay, and in 2000 they established the Brasserie Bread Company.
Breaducation for all
Klausen believes the traditions of artisan baking should be shared through eating and educating. To this end the company has launched its own training school called Breaducation, which offers kids cooking classes and home baking for adults.
According to Klausen, there are plans to extend this side of its operations.
“I believe the artisan bread market needs to take the next step and educate the market,”
he says. “We need to better educate consumers regarding the health aspects of artisan bread. These breads use more whole grains, and the health market is a big part of the future of the industry.”
Klausen says there has been much research done on the health benefits of sourdough. The natural fermentation means it keeps its vitamins and minerals, and also changes the structure of the bread and makes it a lot healthier to eat.
The bakery doesn’t use commercial yeast and there is also no sugar added, something that can prove a drawback for the health conscious in commercial bread.
Artisan bread is also proving to be a big hit at local markets, which the company is keen to support.
“Farmers’ markets are growing really fast and they help people to understand and have a relationship with high quality bread, and being able to do that and support the whole market culture is something we try to do as much as possible in our business,” he says.
“Also, the conversations we have with consumers at the markets provide us with feedback.”
Klausen also says the company wants to explore new ways to broaden its reach, such as by supplying par-baked frozen products that can be finished off in the oven at a smaller-scale bakery in a different destination.
This is one way to enable wider distribution of quality bread to regional areas, Klausen says, but transparency is important to avoid a consumer backlash.
“You can’t tell the difference between a loaf made three months ago and one baked this morning. We’ve done a lot of testing and though it won’t happen overnight, I know it’s the future.”
